Articles Posted in Pennsylvania

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When a company has an employee who is approved for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, sometimes that employer get nervous about parsing FMLA-qualifying absences from other sick days that have nothing whatsoever to do with the employee’s underlying serious health condition. The end result is an employee who gets not only FMLA leave but extra leave that exceeds his or her bank of time off.

Those employers, well, they’re shook!

Let’s see how one employer handled it the right way.
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If an employer violates the Fair Labor Standards Act, like by not paying overtime, the plaintiff(s) can generally recover two years of unpaid overtime for the two years preceding the lawsuit. Those plaintiffs may also recover liquidated damages equal to the unpaid overtime.

So, if an employer owes $100 in overtime, the total bill with liquidated damages would be $200.

However, if the employer willfully violates the FLSA, then the damages increase. That’s because the lookback period for a willful violation becomes three years.

But, what makes a violation willful? Yesterday, the Third Circuit helped answer that question. Continue reading

Not even close to that fun.

No, it’s about a guy who got fired after his employer concluded that he had gained unauthorized access to its electronic files. It just so happens that the plaintiff accessed those files to assist his employer in defending two discrimination actions that other employees had pending against the employer. Either way, because of the firing, the plaintiff alleged retaliation.

How can firing an employee who is trying to help his employer with discrimination claims be considered retaliatory? See, e.g., the headline of today’s blog post.

I’ll explain. Continue reading

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Just before the Labor Day weekend, I blogged here about an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint filed in federal court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that should have employers scrutinizing their leave policies and procedures.

Today, I’ve got news of another EEOC lawsuit filed in my backyard in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As I explain below, this one will have you reaching for a different leave policy — parental leave — to ensure no that there’s no hatin’ on the fellas. Continue reading

Fact or Fiction?That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.”

Let’s do an FMLA quiz. We know that an FMLA-eligible employee must check three boxes:

  1. Work at a location that employs 50 employees within 75 miles;
  2. Has at least 1,250 hours of service with such employer during the previous 12-month period; and
  3. Must be employed for at least 12 months by the employer.

So, does the FMLA protect from retaliation an employee who requests leave before the one-year anniversary of employment? Continue reading

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